Woman whose young child was found alone near park reaches plea deal
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POCATELLO — A Pocatello woman whose 4-year-old child was found wandering Centennial Park alone has reached a plea agreement.
Justine Khalil Rickard, 34, will face at least three years of probation, according to court documents. Per a non-binding agreement reached with the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office, Rickard will enter a guilty plea to injury to a child, a felony, while a second felony for possession of methamphetamine will be dismissed.
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Rickard was arrested in April after officers responding to 911 calls found a 4-year-old child alone in the area around Centennial Park.
After posting the child’s information on Facebook, officers discovered Rickard to be the child’s mother and the parent responsible for the child at the time of the incident.
When officers went to Rickard’s home, approximately four hours after finding the child, they found the front door opened. Rickard was in the home. During a discussion with police, Rickard was noted slurring her speech.
During a search, officers found Rickard to be in possession of a glass pipe with a crystalline residue. A test of the residue returned a presumptive positive for methamphetamine.
In addition to probation, Rickard has also been ordered to pay the cost of lab testing involved in this incident — $194 — and the cost of the investigation and prosecution — which has not yet been determined.
Rickard is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Feb. 17.